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Beijing, China, August 17, 2008 -- Russia advanced to the Women's Volleyball quarter-finals
after an easy win over Serbia 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-20) at Capital Gymnasium.
The victory ensured Russia's third place in Pool B, meaning they will not clash
with Cuba in the next round of competition. Serbia kicked off the first set
laden with the same technical errors that saw them lose to Italy in straight
sets on Friday. Serbia's weak defence was hindered further by a three-man block
that was ineffective as their Russian counterparts towered over them at the
net. But Serbia made up for the lack of height and accuracy with, as libero
Suzana Cebic and Jovana Vesovic synchronised to save unreachable sideline
attacks, closing the gap, but still losing the set. Outside hitter Ekaterina
Gamova and Liubov "Sokolova" Shashkova formed the driving force
behind Russia's offense, with the 2.02-metre tall Gamova topping the scoreboard
in the first set with seven points. The second set saw Serbia fail to make the
necessary player adjustments and Russia forged ahead to take the set 25-16. As
the match closed in on Serbia, coach Zoran Terzic subsituted for Sanja
Malagurski in an attempt to revive an attack, with little impact. Serbia's Jovana
Brakocevic was the top scorer of the match, converting 16 of 43 attacking
attempts. Serbia have emerged from the Pool B preliminaries in fourth place,
and face Cuba in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, August 19.